Vitiligo is a skin condition that has been around for centuries and has been documented in various historical accounts. The clear cause for this condition has not yet been pinpointed because of the varying external factors connected to its development. However, it is now being credited as an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks and kills off the cells that are responsible for the production of melanin.
Some of the earliest documents describing this condition go as far back as 3,000 years ago, some of which are found in Egyptian and Vedic texts. The only problem is that there is no clear contrast between vitiligo and leprosy during those ages, which led to the shunning of people with vitiligo from society because of the collective fear.1
These two conditions are different even though both cause depigmentation. Nowadays, a wider array of diagnostic devices and clearer distinctions between the two have lessened the societal stigma of vitiligo.

The Psychological Impact of Vitiligo

The loss of the melanin in select areas of the body can lead to a heightened sensitivity and risk of sunburn. But aside from this intolerance to sunlight, the physical changes to a person’s appearance can also cause severe psychological impacts on vitiligo patients.
This is because even though vitiligo has been proven to be noninfectious, some people still tend to be frightened of it, and to even shame or ridicule those who have it. The stigma of this can cause those with vitiligo to suffer numerous psychosocial issues and psychological repercussions.
Various studies have shown that the emotional effects caused by vitiligo can vary from mild embarrassment to complete loss of self-esteem because of the gradual change in the appearance of those who have it. Some of the recommended ways to prevent this include family support and counseling.2

Vitiligo Can Increase Your Risk for Other Autoimmune Diseases

People with vitiligo have also been observed to have a higher chance of developing various autoimmune diseases, including:3

• Alopecia areata refers to hair loss, which is caused by the immune system's attack on hair follicles. It can be seen in various areas of the body, mostly on the scalp or the face.4 The risk for this disease does not depend on race, age or sex, with everyone having the same risk as anyone else in the population.5• Autoimmune thyroid diseases. The thyroid is responsible for the production of some of the hormones that regulate important body processes. Having an autoimmune thyroid disease mean that the immune system is unknowingly attacking the thyroid glands, which then causes them to either produce too much or too little of these hormones.

The body processes that depend on these hormones then go haywire, affecting the whole body system. Examples of autoimmune thyroid diseases include Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s disease.6

• Addison's disease is an autoimmune disease where the body is not able to produce enough hormones because of the destruction of the adrenal glands. Two of the important hormones these glands produce are cortisol and aldosterone.
Cortisol is responsible for the regulation of blood sugar and inflammation, while aldosterone functions by regulating both blood pressure and blood volume by controlling salt and water levels.7• Diabetes mellitus. This disease occurs when the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin or when body cells have become insulin resistant. There are two types of diabetes mellitus: Type 1 and Type 2, with Type 1 being an autoimmune disease. Type 1 occurs when the body is unable to produce insulin because the immune system destroys the insulin-producing beta cells.8

Read these articles to know more about the symptoms, causes, treatment and prevention for vitiligo. You will also learn various holistic treatments and how you can deal with this autoimmune disease naturally.

Vitiligo Treatments

The treatment for vitiligo incorporates varying approaches on dealing with the gradual depigmentation vitiligo causes. Most of these treatments focus on evening out the skin tone and minimizing the obvious effects of vitiligo on the appearance of patients. To improve the appearance of their skin, some patients settle on using cosmetic products to decrease the noticeability of their vitiligo.

Conventional Treatments for Vitiligo

Aside from the cosmetic option, conventional medicine also offers numerous techniques that help in reintroducing pigment to the skin. Some of the most common vitiligo treatments include the following:1

• Light therapy. This procedure helps in evening out the skin tone by exposing the skin to UVB light, causing the skin to produce pigment.
This, however, does not stop the appearance of other white patches on the skin or stop the repigmented site from losing pigmentation again through time. Some possible side effects of this technique include hyperpigmentation in the surrounding areas, severe sunburn and blistering.
Another type of light therapy is psoralen and ultraviolet A (PUVA) treatment. This is done by applying psoralen, a pharmaceutical molecule derived from plant chemicals, onto the skin and exposing it to UVA light. While this has been acknowledged as one of the most effective treatments for vitiligo, patients have also been observed to have a heightened risk for developing cataracts and skin cancer in the long term.2• Depigmentation. This technique is usually prescribed to patients with universal and widespread vitiligo. The procedure entails the removal of any remaining melanocytes to even out the skin color of the vitiligo patient by the application of monobenzyl ether of hydroquinone to the remaining pigmented skin. But because of the removal of the remaining pigment, the patient will have a much higher sensitivity to sunlight and will need to take extra care for the rest of their lives.3• Surgery. This is often the last choice for vitiligo patients when other conventional treatments fail. This is done on people who have had stable vitiligo for a couple of years. Skin grafting or cellular grafting is the most common surgical technique. This is done by grafting healthy skin onto the white vitiligo patches to reintroduce melanocytes to the depigmented regions.4

It should be noted that these conventional treatments for vitiligo may lead to numerous side effects that may affect your lifestyle and skin health. Most of the treatments that contain chemicals eventually lead to skin atrophy, which is the gradual deterioration of the treated skin. Thus, you should consider natural remedies first to address the symptoms of this condition.

Natural and Holistic Treatments for Vitiligo

The safest way to treat vitiligo is to use natural and holistic techniques, which will ensure that you’re safe from contracting any serious long-term effects on your health. Some of these natural techniques include the use of the following herbs:5

• Ginkgo biloba. It has anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and antioxidant properties. It also helps in decreasing oxidative stress, which is one of the factors that influence the development of vitiligo. Researchers have shown that the ingestion of this herb has helped patients slow down the spread of the vitiligo or even inhibit its progression.• Psoralea seeds. These seeds are one of the most utilized and well-known natural remedies for vitiligo because of their ability to mimic the sun's effect on the skin. This promotes the melanocytes to produce more melanin where it is applied. This is often used with tamarind seeds and is topically applied on vitiligo patches.• Basil leaves and lime juice. A topical solution made from these two ingredients has been noted to aid in the production of melanin. To make this concoction, mix basil leaf extract with lime juice and apply three times a day for about six months. • Amni visnaga. Khellin, a furanochromone derived from amni visnaga, has been observed to assist in the repigmentation of vitiligo patches with constant use. This component of the amni visnaga plant is comparable to psoralens, the chemical used in the PUVA phototherapy, but without the heightened risk for skin cancer after treatment.

Before using these natural remedies for vitiligo, it is best that you consult a health professional for the right dosage and proper application. It should also be noted that the use of these herbs show varying effectivity on each individual. For vitiligo patients who are pregnant or breastfeeding, it is strongly advised that you consult a health practitioner about the safest vitiligo treatment methods you can opt for.

Monday, September 18, 2017

Reposted from The Hearty Soul
http://theheartysoul.com/dangers-of-nightshades/?utm_source=DRM&utm_content=10912-G0I8

This post was originally published on My Health Maven. Elisha is deeply passionate about educating people and empowering them to lead healthier lives. I encourage you to check out her blog.

Nightshades are a specific group of plants belonging to the Solanaceae family which includes over 2,000 species. They are also some of the most popular foods consumed today; they include tomatoes, potatoes, all types of peppers, and eggplant. Not truly a nightshade member but containing the same inflammation-inducing alkaloids are blueberries, huckleberries, goji berries and ashwagandha (Indian Ginseng).
The theory suggests that nightshades induce inflammation through a specific chemical known as solanine. Researchers now believe this chemical may actually irritate the gastrointestinal tract. When it’s absorbed into the bloodstream, it can cause the destruction of the oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

Solanine is known as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor – it acts to prevent the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), leading to an excessive build-up of ACh in nerve receptor sites. This action allows for constant over-stimulation of Ach receptors, especially within the nervous system as it’s responsible for stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. (source)

Solanines are not water soluble, are not destroyed by cooking, and are not broken down inside the body but must be excreted as alpha-solanine. Alpha-solanine is classified as a neurotoxin. Interestingly most “foods” that contain alpha-solanine also contain at least 5 other neurotoxins including atropine and nicotine.

Nightshades Could Be Causing Your Arthritis Flare-Ups
One of the major problems attributed to nightshades is arthritis. In fact, some researchers believe that arthritis is often misdiagnosed in people who may in fact only be experiencing the effects of nightshade consumption while having a nightshade sensitivity.

Alkaloids appear to affect the metabolism of calcium. Though not yet understood how, nightshade foods may remove calcium from bones and deposit it in soft tissue, setting the stage for arthritis. For this reason, researchers have recommended that all individuals with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis or other joint problems like gout eliminate nightshade foods from their diet. (source)

Norman F. Childers, Ph.D., is the founder of the Arthritis Nightshades Research Foundation. He has the following to say on this subject: “Diet appears to be a factor in the etiology of arthritis based on surveys of over 1400 volunteers during a 20-year period.
Plants in the drug family, Solanaceae (nightshades) are an important causative factor in arthritis in sensitive people.” The primary cause of the reactions in some people is the presence of an alkaloid called tropane which many are very sensitive to.
Eliminating nightshades from my diet has had a profound effect on my health. In 2006 I completely eliminated all nightshades from my diet. The first big change I noticed was that I no longer needed an inhaler. I had been diagnosed with reactive airways disease ten years’ earlier and used inhalers on almost a daily basis.

My need for inhalers decreased dramatically, until two weeks later, when I noticed I hadn’t used an inhaler at all. Six years later, I have never had the need for an inhaler. Within three months of eliminating nightshades, I noticed that the knee pain and leg weakness I had on a daily basis was also completely gone.
For those that suffer from arthritis or an arthritis-related disease such as lupus, rheumatism, and other musculoskeletal pain disorders members of the Solanaceae family of flowering plants, more commonly known as nightshades, may be adversely affecting their health.

Soy sauce made in the U.S. is generally made with genetically modified (GMO) soy beans, which are cut with the nightshade plant Petunia. A healthier option is to purchase Braggs Amino Acids at your health food store. It is naturally fermented soy sauce and the only other ingredient is spring water….it tastes exactly the same as other soy sauces only this one is pure.
Note: The condiments black/white pepper and peppercorns are NOT nightshades

Read labels carefully because you could be doing everything else right, and still be sabotaged by one small amount of an ingredient. You should never buy a food that uses the generic term of seasoning or spices because you won’t know what is really in your food. (source)

Three Month Challenge

If you want to know if nightshades negatively affect you, take the three-month challenge. Avoid all nightshades for three months. (It’s called a challenge for a reason). Be careful to note the previous nightshade list, and become a label reader as some homeopathic, prescriptions; over the counter medications as well as numerous processed foods contain nightshades.
Prescriptions and over the counter medicines may require a discussion with your pharmacist or a phone call to the manufacturer of your over the counter medicines. After three months begin to reintroduce one nightshade at a time. Take note of any aches, pains, stiffness, and loss of energy, headaches, respiratory problems or any other symptoms. You may find as I did, that the quality of your daily health will dramatically improve after eliminating nightshades from your diet.

The Cost of Pain

A report released on June 29, 2011, from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies shows that 116 million adult Americans (one-third of the population) live with some level of daily pain. This is more than the number of people with cancer, diabetes and heart disease combined. The cost to the U.S. is upwards of $635 billion dollars a year. These costs come from direct medical one-third, disability, lost wages and loss of productivity.

By Dr. Mercola
Mercury is a pernicious neurotoxin. Removing it, however, needs to be done with great care, lest you cause even more problems.
Chris Shade, Ph.D., is probably one of the foremost experts in the world on the subject of heavy metal detoxification, and in this interview, he shares his wisdom on this important topic.
Shade received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he studied the environmental transformations of mercury.
He's developed a patented liquid chromatographic mercury speciation technology that differentiates and identifies the exactly source of your mercury — whether it's from your dental amalgams, or from eating contaminated seafood.
He's also involved in developing new lipid-based delivery systems for nutraceuticals, including liposomes and micro-emulsion systems to address the need for effective and affordable detoxification.

"We had sophisticated computational tools for telling us what kind of ligands (binding molecules) are holding the mercury. What I was tasked with was developing an analytical system for separating different forms of mercury out," he says.

"You've got methylmercury (which is the form that builds up in fish) and then you have inorganic mercury. In the environment, inorganic mercury is everywhere ...

I developed these chromatographic tools that would enable a high-throughput analysis of biological samples to separate these different forms."

The Mercury Tri-Test

In your body, glutathione is the dominant agent that binds to and helps move mercury (and other heavy metals) out of your tissues. Part of effectively eliminating mercury involves methods that help upregulate certain aspects of your chemistry that then mobilizes and moves the mercury out.
I actually used Shade's diagnostic tests and detox processes about five years ago to help me detox from mercury amalgams, and was able to cut my mercury level down to normal, quite quickly.
The test he developed is called the Mercury Tri-Test, because it looks at three different kinds of samples: blood, hair, and urine. You always have more mercury in your tissues than in your blood. But there's a steady state or ratio between what's in your blood and what's in your tissues.
Hair is an excretion marker for methylmercury, while urine is an excretion marker for inorganic mercury. These levels should be directly proportional to the levels in your blood.

"The most telling of these, the most importantly diagnostic of these ratios, is looking at the inorganic mercury in the blood compared to the inorganic mercury in the urine.

For a given amount of inorganic [mercury] in the blood, there should be roughly a seven-fold increase in the urine, as [mercury] is filtered out in the urine. But what we find that a lot of people have low [mercury in] urine, and high [mercury in their] blood."

What the Blood to Urine Ratios Indicate

The reason for this has to do with retention toxicity. If two people have 10 amalgams, the sicker of the two will be the one whose urine output of mercury is lower; typically due to damage to the active transport system in the proximal tubules of the nephrons.
More specifically, when the mercury in your blood rises above the 1:7 ratio to the urine, it means your proximal tubule transporters in your kidneys have been damaged.
Your kidneys filter everything in your blood. After the general filtration, in the proximal tubules your body resorbs ions and nutrients it needs to keep, while toxins are actively shuttled out into the urine flow.

"This is what we're measuring — that movement into the urinary flow of the toxic conjugates. That area in the proximal tubules is very, very easily damaged. In mouse models, a combination of endotoxin and mercury exposure creates that damage to those transport proteins.

Obviously, probably the biggest thing on the radar of integrative and functional medicine right now is leaky gut syndrome and gastrointestinal (GI) problems. They are the number one cause of getting high endotoxin levels in your body.

If you have a high mercury level and a leaky gut, you're very likely to damage the very transport system that's getting that mercury out of your body.

That's going to lead to [increased] inorganic mercury levels in the blood. That diagnostic is really important. If that ratio's off, we need to start by treating your kidneys before we go into the main detoxification."

The Difference Between Inorganic Mercury and Methylmercury

The Mercury Tri-Test is the only clinical test out there that differentiates between the inorganic form of mercury (typically found in amalgam fillings) and organic mercury or methylmercury (from fish), allowing you to tailor the most ideal detoxification protocol for your situation.
While many believe all mercury is the same, this is not necessarily the case. Inorganic mercury is much more toxic to the extracellular matrix and thus to connective tissues.
If you're having joint problems or fibromyalgia-like pain, you need to work on getting rid of this inorganic mercury, and you need to make sure your kidney transporters are working well.
Metylmercury is a less cytotoxic (toxic to the cells) form of mercury. If you only have methylmercury in your body, it's all going through glutathione conjugation to your liver, and on to your GI tract.
On the cellular level, the inorganic mercury, is more disruptive because it can bind to more sulfhydryl groups and disrupt more chemistry than methylmercury can.

"For instance, if somebody only has methyl mercury exposure from eating fish and has no amalgams ... they're going to break down a certain amount of the methyl mercury into the inorganic mercury pool. But that's not a fixed rate. That's an individual reaction that we don't really understand.

I suspect it's related to oxidative stress. But some people break down a lot and really build up this inorganic mercury pool despite not having amalgams; some people breakdown only a little bit.

Those who break down a lot are much more at risk from toxicity from their fish than if they're not doing that. They have two forms of mercury building up in their blood, including the worst one — the inorganic mercury. It's important that we divide those and see how well you're excreting the two."

Primary Sources of Mercury Exposure

Seafood is essentially the sole source of methylmercury. However, it's a major source of mercury, and it can be problematic if you eat a lot of seafood. The type of seafood you eat also plays a big role. At the top of the food chain, a shark might have 4 parts per million (ppm) to 10 ppm methylmercury in its tissues. According to Shade, swordfish is routinely 1 to 5 ppm, and tuna is routinely in the 1 to 2 ppm range.
Toward the bottom of the food chain you have sardines and anchovies, which may contain 1 to 10 parts per billion (ppb) of methylmercury, or nearly 1,000 times less mercury.
Wild salmon like Coho and sockeye can be in the 10 to 100 ppb range — a hundred-plus-fold lower level than high-level shark, tuna, and swordfish. Depending on the fish you compare, there could be a thousand-fold difference between the mercury levels. To put that into perspective, it's like eating 1,000 pounds of anchovies versus 1 pound of shark. So if you eat fish on a regular basis, it's really important to look for species known to be low in mercury.

"A dentist I know, Dr. Dave Regiani, had mercury levels measured with us. I said, 'You obviously don't eat any fish. He goes, 'I eat fish every day.' So I said, 'Sardines and anchovies?' He said, 'You got it.' It looks like he's not eating fish at all. When you get down into kippers, anchovies, and sardines, you can eat them at will all day long, and you're never going to build up high levels [of mercury]."

Inorganic mercury exposure is dominantly from dental amalgam and the breakdown of fish-based mercury into the inorganic form. Airborne mercury is the third and least troublesome source. Exceptions include some older buildings, such as old medical, dental, agricultural, and scientific buildings, where mercury levels could be quite significant.

How Mercury Damages Your Health

Inorganic mercury and cadmium are the two heavy metals that cause the most damage to your kidneys. They tend to build up there, causing a downward spiral where the more damage there is to the proximal tubules, the more metals accumulate, and the more damage is created. Many have suffered damage from doing chelation for this reason. By using the Tri-Test, you can determine whether chelation is a good idea or not.
When you take a chelating agent, such as DMSA, you solubilize a lot of mercury in the form that needs to be filtered out through the proximal tubules. This can be a risky type of mercury detoxification and typically isn't necessary. Nevertheless, if you choose to use it, make sure you are working with a highly skilled clinician in this area.
This is because if your kidneys are not working properly, then mercury gets bound up, causing inflammatory damage around the kidneys, which can actually worsen the problem by causing chronic renal insufficiency. (On a side note, a relatively low-protein diet [typically less than 40 to 50 grams per day] can be a beneficial strategy if you have kidney problems such as this.)

"The central nervous system and nephrotoxicity (or kidney toxicity) are the most well-understood damages," Shade says. "It should be said that in neurotoxicity, the most common site for damage is the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor or the glutamate receptor, which causes hyperglutamate activity, which leads to anxiety.

Glutamate excess or excess activity of the glutamate receptor makes a chronic peroxynitrite free radical cascade coming off of those receptors that causes neuroinflammation, which gives you brain fog and fuzzy thinking. It also causes a lot of anxiety and disrupts your autonomic nervous system function ... That's another downward spiral.

Thyroid problems is also a huge one — hypothyroid activity or lack of thyroid activity. It's mostly damaging the deiodinase, which takes the T4 and moves it to T3. If you're looking at your thyroid labs and you have a high T4 but a low T3, mercury, cadmium, or arsenic are the most dominant players in breaking that chain.

Inorganic mercury also builds up in connective tissue, leading to a lot of joint pains. If you're having lower back pain, a lot of hip pains, connective tissue pains, or diffused pains like fibromyalgia, and you have dental amalgams, that's a very common situation. We see people's joint pains and connective tissue pains clear up a lot when they get rid of their amalgams and clear all that mercury out."

The Importance of Optimizing Your GI Tract

Fortunately, there are solutions to these problems, and Shade's work has led to treatment strategies that are far safer and more effective than earlier detox methods used by many alternative practitioners, including myself and Shade.

"Most of us are pioneers because we poison ourselves and had to figure ourselves how to get out of that. That was exactly what I did and that's exactly how this all came about ...

Nigel Plummer, Ph.D., (one of the probiotic leaders of the world) and Dr. Robert Rountree (one of the leaders in GI and functional medicine) were speaking back to back at the Colorado Functional Medicine Forum, talking about how the GI tract reacts to the toxins coming through it and is signaling your immune systems on how to do things.

At the time, I was doing really badly with my DMSA chelation protocol, and I suddenly realized I was accumulating mercury in the GI tract and not moving that out. That was stagnating the system. I started taking strong mercury binders. We have one called Intestinal Metal Detox (IMD), which is a silica particle saturated with sulfhydryl groups. One 6-gram bottle of that is equal to 3,000 to 5,000 chlorellas, which is what had been used naturopathically.

Once I cleared that metal out of the GI tract, it seemed to open up the liver's ability to work with the small intestine, start moving that load out of there, and take the load away from the kidney. It worked so well, that provoked me to do a lot of research and figure out exactly why it worked," Shade says.

In short, when there's inflammation and/or toxin build-up in the GI tract, the movement of toxins from the liver and the GI tract ceases, and everything gets shuttled over to the kidneys. Unless you can open up that liver-GI path, you end up overloading your kidney with toxins. Then, if you try to mobilize all that mercury with a chelator, it all hits the kidneys and cause even more damage. So part of the solution is to "clear out" the GI path first.

Detox Step 1: Optimize Your Filtration Mechanisms

Intestinal Metal Detox (IMD) is a powerful mercury and heavy metal chelator, hundreds of times more potent than chlorella. It helps take the pressure off your kidneys by restoring the natural dominant detox pathway — from your liver to your GI tract and out through fecal excretion. So the first part of the detox involves clearing the metal out of your GI tract with specific metal binders.
The primary endotoxin binder is charcoal, and clay binds to aflatoxin. Ideally, you'll want to use a combination of IMD/chlorella, charcoal, and clay to cover all the bases. Quicksilver Scientific is the sole source for IMD. Chlorella, charcoal and clay can be found in most health food stores and grocery stores.

"I like a cocktail of GI binders, including a metal-specific one like IMD or chlorella, charcoal (which gets almost all the other mycotoxins, except for aflatoxin), and clay (which gets aflatoxin but not the other mycotoxins). Then you've got the pesticides and herbicides. In that mix of different binders, you're going to be able to get almost all of them. It's really important in a detox to have a good cocktail of GI binders," Shade says.

Remember, detoxing involves moving the toxin out of the cell; squeezing the toxin out of the cell into your blood circulation, and then filtering out the metals through your kidneys, liver, and GI tract. However, you need to begin by assessing your filtration capacity before you start moving toxins out of your tissues. If you're feeling awful, it means toxins are building up in circulation faster than they're being filtered out.
To ensure your filters are working properly, begin by supporting your kidneys, liver, and GI tract, and use binders to capture and eliminate metals and toxins in your GI tract.
Classic herbs known to support healthy liver and kidney function include: dandelion, milk thistle, and bitters like gentian and myrrh. For added kidney support, cranberry (a diuretic), solidago (goldenrod), and corn silk can be used. Shade's favorite is goldenrod. General kidney and liver support formulas are also viable options.
Adding burdock will help clear your blood. Dandelion is a good all-around option as it supports blood, liver, and kidney. Be sure to drink lots of water to flush the toxins out.

Detox Step 2: Address Detoxification Biochemistry

Next, you need to optimize the metabolic biochemistry needed for detoxification. That biochemistry involves glutathione and the enzymes and transporters that work with it, such as the enzyme glutathione S-transferase (GST), which is responsible for catalyzing and moving the mercury off the cellular proteins onto the glutathione.
There are several well-known nutraceuticals that help accomplish this. The most well-known and most reliable is lipoic acid. R-lipoic acid is the biologically active form, which is the most useful. Alpha-lipoic acid does work, but that's a mixture of R-lipoic acid and S-lipoic acid, the latter of which actually works against the process. So R-lipoic acid (sometimes also called R-alpha-lipoic acid) is the one to look for.

"R-lipoic acid hits a switch called nuclear factor erythroid 2 (Nrf2). It's a protein made to translocate into the nucleus. It hits promoter regions on genes. Promoter regions are signals for families of genes to turn on. If you want to accomplish something, there's usually not just one protein that does it; there's a family of proteins.

A promoter regions brings up a family of proteins. The Nrf2 promoter region is called the antioxidant response element. It brings up the family of detox or chemo-protection genes.

There are a number of different nutraceuticals and also pro-oxidants that do that ... My favorite is called haritaki or terminalia chebula. It's an Ayurvedic plant filled with polyphenols ... Then you've got sulfur compounds from brassicas. Sulforaphane is a well-known one from broccoli seed extract. Erucin comes from all the brassicas.

You've got allicin and diallyl disulfide from garlic. All of these upregulate Nrf2. They create little free radical cascades that hit that Nrf2 and move it into the nucleus, so that you can detoxify the compounds. So in effect, these compounds are well targeted mild toxins that stimulate a response from the body."

Which Is Best? Precursors or Direct Delivery or Glutathione?

If everything is working well in your body, you can simply use precursors to glutathione, like N-acetylcysteine (NAC) which will support glutathione production. If things aren't working well, Shade recommends using a direct delivery of glutathione.
It's important to realize that most oral glutathione supplements do not work. It's simply going to break down to its constituent amino acids, so it's not an effective intervention. Shade recommends and uses a nanoliposomal glutathione that absorbs under your tongue and is far easier and less expensive than IV glutathione.
Again, whether you can make do with precursors or need direct delivery of glutathione has a lot to do with how well your glutathione system is working, and your current state of health. Poor immune function is a sign of glutathione insufficiency, and a tip-off that a precursor might not be enough. In studies on HIV positive patients, 1,000 times more precursor than glutathione was necessary to restore cellular function in those with active disease.

"Another example of that is the herpes family. Cell cultures of herpes 1, the herpes that you get on your lip, will grow in a petri dish and kill all the cells. If you put glutathione in first, it doesn't grow at all. If you start it and it starts killing the cells, and you throw glutathione in it, it stops it in its tracks. In fact, liposomes are a topical as well as a systemic. They were originally used in the cosmetic industry.

You can use a liposomal glutathione topically to penetrate in and help stop the propagation of a virus in a cold sore or any other herpes diseases," Shade says. "You hear reports from people who get their amalgams out, detoxify and bring their glutathione system up that they stop getting recurring herpes infections, because herpes is living in the situation of reduced glutathione in the immune system."

Leave Chelation for Last

The chelating agent EDTA is a powerful biofilm breaker. When taken systemically it opens up biofilms throughout your body, revealing various organisms to your immune system. As a result, you may experience immune reactions. A lot of the fatigue that people feel when chelating is in fact due to immune reactions to organisms, and is reflective of systemic biofilm-based infections. According to Shade, "If you're not having success with detox, you need to go after microbial injections almost every time."
Also, it's important not to indiscriminately chelate for lead. If you go through the glutathione system upregulation discussed above, you're not just getting mercury, cadmium, and arsenic out. You're also getting a whole host of other toxins, including fluorinated, brominated, chlorinated hydrocarbons, pesticides, and herbicides.

"Start low, work up, and pulse on and off. That's the key to making that happen. That will stop the toxic manifestations of lead. But mobilizing lead out of the body using EDTA, DMSA, or 2,3-Dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid (DMPS) has to be done with a qualified practitioner.

I would say, do the glutathione system upregulation. Get rid of all that other junk. Really build up your body's own ability to deal with these toxins, and then mobilize the lead. And always do that with a practitioner," Shade says.

Addressing Toxic Metals Besides Mercury

To detect heavy metals besides mercury, Shade uses an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) scan of blood for nutrient and toxic metals. This is important, because you need to have your nutrient metals in order before you can go after toxic metals. Most of the toxic metals displace zinc, and zinc drives many important metabolic reactions. If you have low zinc, you're not going to be able to detoxify metals well.
If you have high copper and low zinc, you will present symptoms of heavy metal poisoning, and it will be synergistically toxic with any heavy metals present in your system. High calcium and low magnesium stops detoxification by restricting magnesium-dependent transporters and by putting you in a state of chronic inflammation. You also need to have adequate molybdenum, selenium, and lithium in order to detoxify.

"You need to bring up the ones that are low, and you need to stop supplementing or stop exposing yourself to the ones that are high. It's a little bit more complex with copper. But generally, when you get the glutathione system in order and when you get methylation in order, the copper levels will come down.

Now as far as the toxic metals, when we do glutathione system upregulation, we handle mercury, cadmium, and arsenic — three of the Big Four. The only one we really want to chelate for is lead. If lead is very high, you need the guidance of a qualified licensed practitioner to use either our liposomal EDTA or a little bit of DMSA and DMPS.

In general, I don't like DMSA and DMPS unless you've already cleared the system of the mercury, you've normalized the glutathione system, and you've established very importantly that your kidneys are able to filter those chelates."

Three Pillars of Detoxification

The three pillars of detoxification in general and metal detoxification in particular are:

1. Cleanse and clear your GI tract of metals and toxins using a thiol-functionalized silica (Intestinal Metal Detox, or IMD) with a practitioner, or chlorella, plus charcoal and clay, which bind to all the other toxins. Herbs like dandelion and goldenrod are good for added liver and kidney support. Burdock and dandelion helps clear your blood. Be sure to drink extra water to flush the toxins out.
Remember, if you're detoxing and feeling really unwell, you need to clear more toxins out of your GI tract and blood. When you do that, back off your Nrf2 upregulators, and instead take more GI binders, and more liver and kidney supporting herbs. Drink a lot of water. When you're feeling clear again, restart the Nrf2 upregulators.2. Glutathione optimization. Increase glutathione levels either by using precursors (such as N-acetylcysteine [NAC], or a liposomal glutathione formulation. 3. Nrf2 upregulation in the cells using R-lipoic acid, polyphenols, and sulfur-based compounds from cruciferous vegetables and alliums. The Ayurvedic herb haritaki is beneficial, as are sulforaphane (broccoli seed extract), and allicin and diallyl disulfide (garlic). All of these upregulate Nrf2 and aids detoxification.

Last but not least, remember that detoxing is a marathon, not a sprint. Start all your doses low and work your way up. Do not jump in and do too much all at once. Typically, detoxing will take anywhere from three to 12 months; sometimes longer. Also, pulse the treatment on and off, or else it will lose its effectiveness.

"You have to do it and then let it come down. Stimulate. Relax. Stimulate. Relax. We start with five days on, two days off. If that's a little heavy for you, four days on, three days off. Once we get a little deeper into it, we move it up to 10 days on, four days off.

A study regarding that: when they looked at upregulation of these genes using phytochemicals (plant-based chemicals) in mice, they saw that when they gave them a high dose, they went up to a max expression in 10 days. That was three-fold their baseline.

On the same dose, over the next 20 days, going up to 30 days, the expression went down, down, down, until it was back at baseline. Meaning, when you use these compounds that upregulate every day, they stop working for you. You've got to take them; then stop. Take them. Stop."